A Duck Joke + A Serious Survey

The cartoon says it all!

Survey : AMERICANS SEEK FAIRNESS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING

Washington, D.C. (June 30, 2004) — A majority of
Americans recognize that there are significant differences
in the quality of schools in high- and low-income areas,
and they worry about an over-reliance on property taxes
as a way to fund schools, according to a national survey
released by Educational Testing Service (ETS).

These are among the findings of "Equity and Adequacy:
Americans Speak on Public School Funding," a public
opinion poll conducted by Democratic pollster Peter Hart
and the late Republican pollster Robert Teeter. This
fourth annual poll commissioned by ETS reveals
Americans’ attitudes about the fairness of the way in
which public schools are funded; education reform; and
how effectively the nation’s public schools are educating
students. During May and June, researchers surveyed
adults in general, parents of school children, and
education policy-makers as well as residents of electoral
battleground states.

According to the poll, nearly half (45%) of Americans
feel that schools need either major changes (30%) or a
complete overhaul (15%) to get on track. Parents give
their children’s school grades that average out to a B-,
and the average grade for the nation’s schools as a whole
is a C. The real concern is about schools in poor
neighborhoods, with 60 percent of the public saying that
schools in low-income areas are either inadequate or in
crisis.

Other important findings from the survey include:

• School assessments are unchanged - Parents give fairly
good grades to their neighborhood schools, but most
Americans see schools in low-income areas as inadequate.
• The public is split over NCLB - Real progress in
informing Americans has brought awareness of reforms to
half, compared with 37 percent a year earlier, but as many
are critical of reforms as welcome them.

• Accountability is in the eye of the beholder - While there
is great demand for education accountability, the public is
divided on how it defines accountability.

• Americans want fairness in school funding - They lean
toward a greater role for states in funding education as a
way to solve the problem in low-income schools.
Sixty-five percent of all adults say they believe it is
appropriate to allocate tax revenues raised in other areas
to schools in low-income areas. Policy-makers support
this by 68 percent.

• Americans are conflicted about how best to ensure
fairness in school funding - Policy differences are driven
by conflicting desires within and among individuals not
between groups (e.g., parents vs. nonparents). Majorities
want greater spending and lower taxes.

• The public may be willing to pay more for public
education - But only if they gain confidence that the
money will be targeted to unmet needs, and it will not be
wasted.

• Perceived waste limits support for tax hikes - As with
other areas of government spending, the public's view that
many education dollars are wasted lead many Americans
to challenge any tax increase proposals.

"Until America stops tying school funding so closely to
local wealth, fair and equitable funding for real school
reform will only be a dream," says ETS President and
CEO Kurt Landgraf. "This survey shows that parents and
policy-makers get it – education and fairness are
fundamental American values. We have to make sure the
way we fund our public schools reflects those values."

Download "Equity and Adequacy: Americans Speak on Public School Funding"

4LAKids: Saturday, July 24th, 2004

4LAKids: Saturday, July 24th, 2004 In This Issue: • FEDERAL GRAND JURY INVESTIGATES LAUSD HQ PURCHASE/SCHOOL BOARD RENEWS ROMER’S CONTRACT • READING TO KIDS. Be a Volunteer Hero the second Saturday of every month! • NO GOAT LEFT BEHIND • S.F. VOTERS TO DECIDE IF NONCITIZENS CAN VOTE IN SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS + TOWN WHERE VOTERS DON’T HAVE TO BE CITIZENS • EVENTS: Coming up next week... • 4LAKids Book Club for June & July –CHOOSING EXCELLENCE: “Good Enough” Schools Are Not Good Enough • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • THE 4LAKids ARCHIVE - Past Issues and added features • MAKING SCHOOLS WORK: Get the Book @ Amazon.com • THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee’s “Paying for Schools” • FIVE CENTS MAKES SENSE FOR EDUCATION- Target 5¢ from every federal tax dollar for Education • I feel a little uneasy reporting the news when I am part of the story. But the news media missed this one — and I don’t think you’ll be hearing a lot about this from the LAUSD PR office! Last Wednesday the Bond Oversight Committee took up the superintendent’s recommendations on using school construction bond funds to defray costs in the LAUSD budget. As part of its budget cutting efforts the superintendent has proposed and the Board of Education is considering making up some operating fund shortfalls using the Prop BB and Measure K and R Bonds. This opens a potential slippery slope — the upside is short-term financial relief, the downside is a compromise to the mission of building, modernizing and maintaining schools. • About $150 million in construction and modernization debt financed through securities called Certificates of Participation (COPs) - originally set to be paid back though general fund revenues - will be moved into the bonds. The Bond Oversight Committee approved this; it is a legitimate use of bond funds and it was in the ballot language presented to the voters. • $5.4 million in election costs — the cost of printing the ballots and running the election (NOT the campaign!) billed to the District by the City of LA — was approved. The BOC did request that in future elections the District include these projected costs in the ballot language. • The Bond Oversight Committee balked at approving some other costs – including one million dollars to implement the initial rollout of Full Day Kindergarten. The BOC favors Full Day K - and indeed the voters approved $100 million to implement it districtwide in Measure R. However neither the BOC nor the Board of Education has been presented with a long term plan and budget to implement FDK and we cannot pre-approve any expenditure of bond funds. We remain attentive and cautious of the District’s operating budget crisis, we respect the difficult challenges the school board and the superintendent face. But do not believe long term bonded indebtedness approved by the voters for capital improvements can be used to pay day-to-day operating costs. And we cannot approve any expenditure absent a strategic execution plan and full accountability. This restraint is our fiduciary responsibility under our Charter and Memorandum of Understanding and also according to the California law that mandated bond oversight under Proposition 39. • Our three-point litmus test before approving any expenditure of bonds funds are these: 1. Is it a legal and legitimate use of bond funds? 2. Is there a plan in place with full transparency and accountability? 3. It is in the best interest of the taxpayers, the voters, and the schoolchildren of Los Angeles? — smf FEDERAL GRAND JURY INVESTIGATES LAUSD HQ PURCHASE/SCHOOL BOARD RENEWS ROMER’S CONTRACT • LA Times: SCHOOL HEADQUARTERS PURCHASE INVESTIGATED: A federal grand jury is examining L.A. Unified's $74.5-million acquisition of a downtown high-rise, document shows. By Cara Mia DiMassa - Times Staff Writer July 23, 2004 - A federal grand jury is investigating the Los Angeles Unified School District's much-debated $74.5-million purchase of a downtown high-rise that is now its administrative headquarters, according to a district document. In a memo sent Thursday to the board of education, the school system's inspector general, Don Mullinax, wrote that his office was cooperating with the federal investigation at the request of the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. Reached by telephone, Mullinax said he could not comment on the matter. The 29-story structure, located at 333 S. Beaudry Ave., just west of the Harbor Freeway, had a history of disputes over alleged construction defects before the district purchased the building from Bank of America in 2001. With an additional $73 million spent on improvements and repairs for roofing problems and poor ventilation, the district has spent about $147 million on the new headquarters, a sum that the teachers union and other critics allege has been a waste. Last year, the Los Angeles County district attorney's major fraud division launched an investigation into whether the district overpaid for the Beaudry building to bail out its past investors, which included the financial services company pre- viously owned by billionaire Eli Broad, who has been a force in school district politics. That county investigation is continuing but is expected to be resolved "in the not-too-distant future," said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. The school district financed its purchase through certificates of participation and, as part of the acquisition, paid $15 million to investors who held subordinated bonds tied to the building, similar to second mortgages issued by banks. One of those secondary investors was Sun America, the company previously owned by Broad. Before the purchase, one real estate expert advised the district that it did not have to pay all of the investors who held the subordinated bonds, advice that district officials rejected. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the federal investigation or to say which aspects in the purchase of the 24-year-old building the grand jury is probing. Los Angeles schools Supt. Roy Romer said he was surprised by the federal investigation. "I don't know of anything that was illegal or inappropriate," he said of the purchase. District officials, while pledging cooperation with the investigation, have denied that they made any special deal for Broad or anyone else. They said that, without the payments to all of the bondholders, the deal could have collapsed or been waylaid or canceled by lawsuits. Any delay in the purchase, officials said, would have required the district to pay more for other office space while it was turning its old offices downtown into a school site. But others have criticized the choice of the triangular concrete and glass structure, citing problems with the building's construction and location, just west of the central part of downtown and away from major mass transit corridors. A previous tenant, Security Pacific Bank, had sued the builder over alleged construction defects; that suit was resolved in an undisclosed out-of-court settlement. In the fall of 2001, Mullinax raised concerns about the building's structural condition, particularly the strength of its floors. In an internal report, he raised concerns that the floors were uneven and too weak to support file cabinets or other heavy equipment. Board of education President Jose Huizar, who abstained from the original vote on the purchase of the building, said he was still convinced that, "from a financial and location criteria, this wasn't the best possibility" for a district headquarters. He said he expects that members of the school board and district staff will "fully cooperate" with the grand jury. "I'm looking forward to the outcome," he said. School board member David Tokofsky, who cast the sole vote against the purchase financing in October 2001, said he still had doubts about that deal and a new $40-million plan to build additional parking space for the headquarters. The property value has gone up, he conceded, but so has all property in downtown Los Angeles. "The question is, did we pay the right price, and was all of the information transparent and presented [to the board] in a truly clear way?" Tokofsky said. • LA Daily News: US GRAND JURY PROBING LAUSD HEADQUARTERS BUY By Jennifer Radcliffe - Staff Writer Thursday, July 22, 2004 - A federal grand jury has opened an investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District's controversial purchase of its downtown Beaudry Avenue headquarters, a $74.5 million deal pushed by Superintendent Roy Romer despite questions about the high cost and the high-rise's structural integrity. LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax, who raised concerns about the building when it was bought three years ago, disclosed the investigation in a memo to school district officials Thursday. "I am writing to inform you that at the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, the Office of the Inspector General is providing assistance in a federal grand jury investigation regarding the purchase of the Beaudry building." Neither Mullinax, an independent watchdog over the district's finances and operations, nor a representative of Central District U.S. Attorney Debra Yang would comment further. "This is a very serious situation," said board member David Tokofsky, who cast the sole vote to oppose the Beaudry building. "The U.S. attorney and the Board of Education share a mutual concern for the public interest against those who might or did take advantage of the public's funds." The LAUSD bought the 29-story, 928,000-square-foot high-rise at 333 S. Beaudry Ave. for $74.5 million, with an additional $80 million budgeted for renovations. The district had to issue a total of $180 million in bonds to fund the project, including the purchase price, repairs and moving costs. This month, the school board was set to consider spending $40 million to build a parking garage for workers in the building, but several board members on Wednesday moved to put that on hold. Built in 1982, the structure has serious problems, including sagging concrete floors, poor ventilation and seismic trouble leading some to refer to it as a "walking dead" building. A Daily News investigation in 2001 also raised questions about a possible conflict of interest in the deal. The building's owner, Beaudry I Investors, a Connecticut-based corporation, was at one time represented by attorney Cole Finegan, a friend of Romer's from Colorado, where Romer served as governor. The LAUSD's general counsel ruled that it was not a conflict of interest. Despite structural concerns, Romer insisted that the building was safe and a great deal for the city. On Thursday, he again defended the purchase. "There was great, great attention given to this choice," Romer said. "I know of nothing improper. If anyone else does, I'm very interested in knowing." The school board voted 4-1 with two abstentions to approve money for the Beaudry building. Jose Huizar, who had just joined the board, and longtime member Julie Korenstein abstained. "I'm not in a position to know whether there was some wrongdoing; however, I did think, from financial and location criteria, this wasn't the best possibility," Huizar said. "I'm looking forward to the outcome. I opposed and continue to oppose the purchase of this building." The LAUSD bought the Beaudry building to make room for new high school academies at its former headquarters at 450 N. Grand Ave. and its Third Street Annex building. At the time of the purchase, Romer and Mullinax had heated exchanges during public hearings over the merits of the plan. In one letter to the district, a prominent real estate developer noted that the building had twice won the Lemon Award from a downtown business group. Backed by the district's own engineering consultants who vouched for the structure, Romer grew increasingly frustrated over delays to approve funding for the new headquarters. Seventeen months after the deal went through, District Attorney Steve Cooley's staff began an investigation of the Beaudry purchase that should be completed "soon," Cooley spokeswoman Jane Robison said. "All I can say is we are in the latter stages of this investigation," she said, declining to elaborate on the investigation or whether Cooley was working with the Los Angeles-based U.S. attorney. John Perez, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, applauded the investigation. "The whole thing is a mess. I don't know if there was anything illegal about it, but it's a bad building, and it was a bad decision. ... You can get seasick walking in that building." • LA Times: ROMER’S CONTRACT IS EXTENDED TO 2007: Action is hailed as giving L.A. Unified stability. His salary will stay at $250,000. By Cara Mia DiMassa & Duke Helfand - Times Staff Writers July 23, 2004 - In a vote of confidence for Los Angeles schools Supt. Roy Romer, the Board of Education on Thursday extended his contract as leader of the nation's second-largest school system until 2007. Board President Jose Huizar said the action "brings stability to the district, which this district very much needs." Since he joined the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2000, Romer has launched a massive school building program and has pushed to improve academics. Elementary and middle schools have shown significant rises in standardized test scores, although high schools have lagged behind. Most details of the superintendent's contract will stay the same, including his annual salary of $250,000 and a $30,000 expense account for meals and entertainment. The former governor of Colorado and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Romer turns 76 in October. He said he did not want to retire yet and was eager to finish his work in Los Angeles schools. "My mind is active and my body is active," he said. "It's tough work," he added. "But I happen to have satisfaction in doing tough work these days…. And we have really made remarkable gains in four years." Romer's current contract, which expires in June 2005, will be replaced by a new contract through June 2007. As part of a compromise, either party can terminate the pact before its third year. That arrangement addresses some concerns expressed by board members in previous weeks that an extension to 2007 would leave them little flexibility. Some trustees, including Huizar, originally wanted to add a year at a time to Romer's contract. But a 6-0 vote Thursday approved the extension, with board member Marguerite Poindexter-LaMotte abstaining. Romer has been widely credited with refocusing instructional programs, spearheading the aggressive construction effort and energizing a bureaucracy long ridiculed as inefficient — even as he drew the ire of teachers who accused him of pushing centralized reforms without listening to their concerns. Romer hired experienced professionals to run the district's key operations, such as facilities and procurement. He pressed for centralized reading and math curriculums that standardized instruction. And he launched two successful bond campaigns, raising $14 billion for building new schools to ease severe overcrowding. At the same time, state budget crunches have meant that Romer has presided over nearly $1 billion in cuts in the last two years, reluctantly raising class sizes in grades 4 through 12 and slashing many support services. In an interview Thursday, United Teachers Los Angeles President John Perez said the superintendent would succeed only if he included teachers in decisions that affected classrooms. "Most people like Romer tend to view teachers as grown-up children who are best not heard," Perez said. "We are going to try to continue educating the superintendent about what goes on in the classroom. We're not going to stop." Former board President Caprice Young called the contract extension a smart move, saying that "we'll all be better off with three more years of Roy Romer." Young, who was on the board when it hired Romer and now runs a charter school organization, said the superintendent had brought credibility to the district. • LA Daily News: ROMER GIVEN EXTENSION ON LAUSD PACT: 3rd year to be linked to goals By Jennifer Radcliffe - Staff Writer Thursday, July 22, 2004 - Despite recent disagreements over money and the organization of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the school board Thursday extended Superintendent Roy Romer's contract in a move that could keep the former Colorado governor at the helm until 2007. School board President Jose Huizar said that while he is thrilled with the progress the LAUSD has made during Romer's first four years, the board plans to hold the 75-year-old to tougher standards. Romer will only be granted the third year of his $250,000-a-year contract if he meets goals that the board plans to set for him by mid-September. "We're going to be more demanding in the coming years," Huizar said. "We want to continue the progress and we're asking our superintendent to accelerate the progress." The board voted 6-0-1, with board member Marguerite LaMotte abstaining. LaMotte would not comment on why she abstained. Romer did not ask for and was not offered a raise from his current $250,000 annual salary. His expense account was also kept at $30,000 annually and he retains the lifetime health care for himself and his wife. He also has a personal driver, but that is not part of his contract. Romer's biggest accomplishment has been overseeing a $14 billion construction program to build 160 new schools. Elementary test scores have also increased under Romer's tenure, in part because of the district's switch to a phonics-based reading program. Over the next two to three years, Romer said, he wants to build more schools, improve test scores and lower the high school dropout rate. "I'm here because it's important work. It's not something you do for recreation ... but I happen to have satisfaction in doing tough work these days," he said. He joked that he also isn't ready to leave Los Angeles. "I haven't learned to surf yet." Romer has faced tough opposition this year from teachers union leaders, who pushed him relentlessly to cut the LAUSD's local bureaucracy to reduce the district's $500 million shortfall. John Perez, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, complained that Romer refuses to partner with teachers on professional development programs and consistently tries to make them pay more of health care costs. "The superintendent has to be more serious about dealing with the people who make him look good. He turns his back on us," he said. But Perez said he's impressed with Romer's dedication and energy, and plans to continue to try to work with the superintendent. READING TO KIDS. Be a Volunteer Hero the second Saturday of every month! Reading to children and reading with children is the most important step in promoting literacy. Two weeks ago I participated in a program called Reading to Kids that does just that: Reads to kids - in inner city elementary schools on Saturday mornings. R2K reads every second Saturday morning. Join us! Be there! It’s fun! It’s rewarding. There are free donuts! The big three! Reading to Kids is an organization committed to helping children become better readers. Children who learn the joy of reading have the potential for a brighter future, and our hope is to spark that interest. Reading to Kids gathers children and volunteers - teachers, parents and college students - into reading groups on the second Saturday of every month at elementary schools near downtown Los Angeles and in the Valley. We combine reading aloud with intellectual games, craft projects, and social interaction. These Saturday reading clubs utilize the well established read-aloud program. In conjunction with the program for the children, teachers at the schools hold workshops for the parents on how they can be good readers at home to their children. Reading to Kids also donates books purchased for the Reading Clubs to the school libraries and donates prize books directly to the children. Since its inception, Reading to Kids has given over 20,000 books to children who attend the reading clubs and donated approximately 3,200 books to school libraries. At the school level, the teachers and administrators are essential in running the reading clubs. The principals, assistant principals, teachers, and literacy coordinators recruit the students each month, select the books that are used in the program, and provide overall guidance as to the needs of the schools. Teachers at the schools also lead the training provided for volunteers and parents. Several of the volunteers of Reading to Kids began a relationship with Gratts Elementary School by organizing periodic carnivals at the school. Looking to start an additional program with the school that would emphasize learning, the volunteers, teachers, and administrators came up with the idea of the "Gratts Reading Club." This reading club began in May 1999, and its success led to the formation of Reading to Kids. In March 2000, Reading to Kids expanded its program to Esperanza Elementary School, and in March 2001, it expanded again to Magnolia Elementary School. In 2003 R2K started at Noble Elementary in the Valley. In the future, Reading to Kids hopes to expand this successful program to other elementary schools in the greater Los Angeles area. Participating Schools: Esperanza Elementary School (first reading club: March 2000) 680 Little Street Los Angeles, California 90017 Gratts Elementary School (first reading club: May 1999) 309 S. Lucas Avenue Los Angeles, California 90017 Magnolia Elementary School (first reading club: March 2001) 1626 S. Orchard Avenue Los Angeles, California 90006 (213) 748-6281 Noble Elementary School (first reading club: April 2003) 8329 Noble Avenue North Hills, California 91343 • SAVE THE DATE: The next reading clubs are: Saturday, August 14, 2004 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (always the second Saturday of each month) For more info and to sign up to read go to www.ReadingToKids.org. NO GOAT LEFT BEHIND • In the opening of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” we are treated to the raw news footage of President Bush continuing to read to second graders after a staffer informs him that the second airliner has crashed into the World Trade Center on November 11th, 1991. Moore plays this for pathos: The President of the United States completely lost as to what to do as the two airliners still aloft make their terrible final approaches. When I first viewed the scene my heart sorta went out to George W. • He obviously didn’t know what to do ....and we now know beyond a doubt (as he must’ve suspected all along) that any intelligence he had – and any information he was being fed – was wrong. • I personally believe that reading to kids is the most important thing anyone can do on any given day! (see: Reading to Kids [above]) • ....and at least he wasn’t calling the Strategic Air Command and ordering then to dial in the target codes for The Axis of Evil! Not yet. However, upon reading the following from this week’s “New Yorker” I have had second thoughts. In all mock seriousness we just may have uncovered the smoking gun that ties the Bush Family to the Terrorist Attacks, No Child Left Behind, the giant textbook cartel and the Open Court Reading Program. Sure, five bad ideas in a row do not add up to a conspiracy ...but they are still bad ideas! —smf DEPT. OF EDUCATION • THE PET GOAT APPROACH by Daniel Radosh The New Yorker/Talk of the Town 7/26/04 Although you do not know his name, Siegfried (Zig) Engelmann is one of the most talked-about authors in the country right now. His most prominent work, which you have not read, is a story for second graders. It begins, “A girl got a pet goat.” Engelmann’s story is the one that George W. Bush was reading in a Florida classroom on the morning of September 11, 2001, at the moment he learned of the terrorist attacks. A videotape of the President holding the book open while staring blankly into space for seven minutes provides the most memorable scene in Michael Moore’s movie “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Engelmann has not seen the film, but when he heard about his secondhand cameo he reread his story. “I don’t remember writing it,” he said the other day from his office at the University of Oregon, in Eugene. That may be because it is one of more than a thousand he has written in the past thirty years. Curious viewers of Moore’s film who have tried to track down the book “My Pet Goat” have been unsuccessful, for two reasons: Moore, in his voice-over, got the title wrong—it is “The Pet Goat”—and it is not a book but an exercise in a workbook called “Reading Mastery 2.” This much was sussed out last month by a resourceful blogger named Peter Smith after he studied the raw footage from the Emma E. Booker Elementary School. Noticing that the teacher repeatedly cued the class with the same precise language (“Get ready to read these words the fast way”), Smith guessed that some particular pedagogical theory was at work. That’s what led him to Direct Instruction, a controversial teaching model that Engelmann developed in the nineteen-sixties. “The whole idea is to do an efficient job with every single kid,” Engelmann, who is seventy-two and is a professor of education, said. His basic principle is that if a child isn’t learning it is always because the teacher is doing something to confuse him. Direct Instruction aims to eliminate that problem by introducing bite-size concepts that build directly on ones that have already been mastered, and by scripting every word of every lesson, including which words of encouragement teachers may and may not use. As the D.I. Web site puts it, “The popular valuing of teacher creativity and autonomy as high priorities must give way to a willingness to follow certain carefully prescribed instructional practices.” “We don’t give a damn what the teacher thinks, what the teacher feels,” Engelmann said. “On the teachers’ own time they can hate it. We don’t care, as long as they do it.” Engelmann claims that Direct Instruction is one of the few teaching methods that have been consistently shown to improve student achievement, especially among disadvantaged children. “Traditionalists die over this,” he said. “But in terms of data we whump the daylights out of them.” For years, Direct Instruction’s impressive performance in large-scale studies did little to win over his critics, who call his techniques “controlling” and “robotic.” D.I.’s phonics-based reading curriculum—Engelmann has also applied his principles to math, science, social studies, and handwriting—sometimes requires children to chant words in unison while a teacher snaps her fingers to keep time. D.I.’s fortunes began to change in 2001, when Bush introduced his No Child Left Behind legislation, which mandated that only “scientifically based” educational programs be eligible for federal funding. And here’s where Michael Moore missed an opportunity. No Child Left Behind has meant big profits for the publisher of the D.I. curricula, McGraw-Hill. So it’s easy to imagine one of Moore’s hallmark montages, spinning circumstantial evidence into a conspirational web: a sepia-toned photograph from the thirties of, say, Prescott Bush and James McGraw, Jr., palling around on Florida’s Jupiter Island; a film clip from the eighties of Harold McGraw, Jr., joining the advisory panel of Barbara Bush’s literacy foundation; Harold McGraw III posing with President George W. Bush as part of his transition team; and, to tie it all together, former McGraw-Hill executive vice-president John Negroponte being sworn in as the new Ambassador to Iraq. One person who wouldn’t be included in such a conspiracy is Zig Engelmann. Engelmann calls himself a “political rebel,” but his inclinations are hard left. He hasn’t decided if he will vote for John Kerry, Ralph Nader, some alternative progressive party, or nobody at all. He is not fond of Bush. “For whatever it’s worth, I think Iraq is a total circle jerk,” he said. “I couldn’t think of how to do it worse.” • smf postcript: Normally I would have edited the comment above to make it more suitable for student readers and those easily offended. However I was so offended by Dr. Engelmann’s “We don’t give a damn what the teacher thinks....” quote I felt it should be left alone. SRA, the McGraw Hill imprint that publishes the Reading Mastery series also publishes Open Court Reading — the officially mandated LAUSD flavor in the Direct Instruction® curriculum offering. Perhaps it says everything there is to know about the DI/scripted block-reading methodology that the teacher was not permitted to deviate from the curriculum even for a classroom visit by the President of the United States! The article on the New Yorker website S.F. VOTERS TO DECIDE IF NONCITIZENS CAN VOTE IN SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS + TOWN WHERE VOTERS DON’T HAVE TO BE CITIZENS • smf notes: Allowing non-citizen parents in vote in school board elections in LAUSD could make a huge difference in races where turnout is usually abysmally low, especailly in light of the demographic reality of LAUSD’s large enrollment of recent immigrants. Noncitzen parents in Chicago, the nation’s third largest school district vote. It might make sense here. • S.F. Voters to Decide if Noncitizens Can Vote: Ballot measure would affect only school board elections. A legal challenge is expected. By Robert Hollis, Marisa Lagos and Megan Garvey Special to The LA Times July 21, 2004 - SAN FRANCISCO: Testing state law for the second time this year, San Francisco city leaders approved a controversial ballot proposal Tuesday that could allow noncitizens to vote in school board elections. The proposal, the first in the state but not the nation, would permit any adult with a child in public school — parent, guardian or caretaker — to vote regardless of citizenship status. Backers of the measure acknowledged that it probably would face legal challenges since state law limits voting to citizens. But they said a local exemption was allowable because San Francisco is a charter city that can set its own laws. "Every time you're on the cutting edge of any issue you're going to have legal issues," said Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, a Green Party member who introduced the proposal. "This body has taken a strong position on things like gay marriage, domestic partnership…. I don't think this is any different." The city made national headlines in February when Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed thousands of same-sex couples to receive marriage licenses. The state Supreme Court halted those unions; the issue remains in the courts. Even in this consistently left-leaning city that is accustomed to pushing the boundaries on social issues, the school matter has stirred strong opinions. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat and former San Francisco mayor, issued a statement this week saying that "under no circumstances" should noncitizens be allowed to vote because it would discourage immigrants from becoming citizens. Local Chinese American elected officials are divided over the measure, while Latino leaders have mostly remained silent. Still, the Board of Supervisors' decision to put the matter before voters on Nov. 2 passed 9-2, with little discussion. The San Francisco Unified School District has 60,000 students, more than half of whom come from homes where English is not their first language. Students of Chinese heritage make up 31% of the student population, the largest ethnic bloc, and 21% of students are Latino. David Chiu, an early proponent of the ballot proposal, said that at least one in three students in San Francisco's public schools has an immigrant parent. Chiu, co-founder of the public relations firm Grassroots Enterprise, said his organization had pushed for voting rights in part because long waits to become citizens had left immigrant parents disenfranchised when their children were in school. The push to allow noncitizens a say in the makeup of school boards is viewed as a first step to broader voting rights — both by those who say it is a good move that will increase public participation and by those who argue that it violates the spirit of American democracy. The concept of noncitizen voters is not new. Limiting voting privileges to American citizens has occurred only since World War I. Noncitizens can vote in school board elections in a few cities, including Chicago. Gonzalez has said that he would like to see noncitizens allowed to vote in all municipal elections, a practice in place in Takoma Park, Md., and a few other cities. Jim Rivaldo, a veteran San Francisco political consultant, said the proposal would "obviously play well in liberal and immigrant-heavy areas of the city." "If it can succeed anywhere in California," Rivaldo said, "it will be in San Francisco." In a state where many cities have increasingly large numbers of immigrants, legal and illegal, any extension of voting privileges could have significant political ramifications. "If you give noncitizens the right to vote it has partisan implications," said Steve Camarota, of the Washington-based Center for Immigrant Studies, a nonpartisan think tank that supports strict enforcement of immigration laws. "You aren't going to see it proposed at the statewide level in a bitterly divided state or in a city closely divided on partisan lines." At Tuesday's board meeting, Gonzalez took issue with the perception that he backed such rights to expand the likely voting base for progressives. "First-generation immigrants tend to be more conservative," he said. In San Francisco, the proposal has pitted some on the far left against relatively more conservative officials, with the city attorney reportedly advising officials that such a measure was unlikely to pass court tests even if put on the November ballot. Newsom had no comment on the issue. There has been growing sentiment in some communities for noncitizens voting in local elections. In New York, where noncitizens voted in school board elections from 1968 until last year when Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg reorganized the school board, some politicians have pushed for noncitizens to vote in all local elections. Those opposed to allowing noncitizens voting rights say to do so would erode the meaning of citizenship. Feinstein, in her statement, said that a better solution would be to speed the process by which immigrants can become citizens. School board President Dan Kelly, who opposes the proposal, said it has little to do with giving parents more say in schools. "It's not an issue about education. The issue is about voting rights and citizenship," Kelly said. "The question of who has the right to vote is ultimately tied to citizenship, legitimately so." He said he was "mystified" as to why school board elections had been singled out. Kelly said the school district sued to overturn Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot initiative that had sought to prohibit illegal immigrants from public services such as schools and medical care. Kelly said the school district has avenues for participation for noncitizen parents such as PTAs and school committees. The district also provides Mandarin and Spanish translators to keep parents informed and to help them address school officials, he said. But state Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) supported the measure and said he would campaign for its passage. "About half the children in San Francisco are white yet barely 10% are in public schools," he said. "It's clear to me whites left the public schools and the only ones left are minorities…. [Noncitizens'] children's future is in the public schools and I think we should give them a voice." San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma, however, opposed the ballot proposal after repeatedly speaking against it. Ma, whose parents became citizens after immigrating to the United States from China, said "voting is a privilege reserved for citizens." Ma said she believed that her colleagues went ahead with the measure, despite legal advice that it would not hold up in the courts, because they hope that substantial support for the proposal in November would put political pressure on the state Legislature to change the state Constitution. Further, she said she suspects that it is intended to spur similar movements in Los Angeles and other cities. A broader move in San Francisco to allow noncitizens to vote in all local elections fizzled out in 1996 after then-city attorney Louise Renne persuaded a state judge to block the initiative from appearing on the ballot, arguing that it violated the state Constitution's requirement that voters be citizens. Renne has opposed the recent proposal, asking if it meant Osama bin Laden could vote. Others said the restriction should be challenged. "More and more as the demographics of California are shifting and there are more and more noncitizens who comprise our communities, it is important that we allow those persons an avenue to have a voice in the policies and how they are formed — especially when it relates to their children," said Steve Reyes, of the Los Angeles-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. • Rare Town Where Voters Don't Have to Be Citizens: Few in the Washington suburb know that immigrants can vote in municipal elections. By Kathleen Hennessey - LA Times Staff Writer July 22, 2004 – TAKOMA PARK, Md.: More than a decade ago, this left-leaning suburb's decision to allow noncitizens to vote made news across the country. Today the fact that noncitizens here can vote is news to many residents. "Is that true?" said Israel Martinez, who moved seven years ago to this leafy suburb just across the District of Columbia line. "Really?" In 1992, the City Council amended the city charter to allow immigrants — regardless of documentation — to vote in municipal elections. Of the six Maryland communities where U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for voting, Takoma Park, with more than 17,000 residents, is the largest. A similar proposal, limited to school board elections, was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night. It is to go before voters this fall. The Takoma Park City Council made its decision after a well-organized campaign, a lengthy and heated public debate about citizenship and the dangers of voter fraud, a nonbinding resolution and threat of legal challenges. Now, residents and experts who have studied Takoma Park's voting experiment say the effect has been underwhelming. "The sky didn't fall. You haven't had a huge influx of immigrants moving to take part in elections. You haven't had voter fraud. Nothing happened," said Lisa Garcia Bedolla, who teaches political science at UC Irvine and has studied immigrant voting initiatives. "I think the major impact of the noncitizen voting change has been to transmit the message that Takoma Park is welcoming to people who are not U.S. citizens," said Mayor Kathy Porter. "In terms of practical effect, I don't think there's been any election where a huge number of noncitizens have voted." In November 2003, 14 of the city's 494 registered noncitizens voted in the local elections. Voter participation for noncitizens matched those of citizens in the elections just after the charter was amended, but the statistics declined over the years. "In one sense, the results have been kind of disappointing for some of those who advocated for the change," said Ronald Hayduk, assistant professor of political science at Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York and immigrant voting rights supporter. "Over time there's just been a lot less education and mobilization." Porter said her city had made an effort to reach out to its foreign-born residents, who make up nearly one-third of the population here, according to the 2000 census. Organizers went door-to-door, speaking to residents in their native languages, and the city hosted informational meetings about the voting laws. Although the notion of immigrants casting ballots sparks controversy today, at several points in U.S. history citizenship and enfranchisement were not so closely linked. In the 19th century, Congress allowed several Western states to offer suffrage to immigrants as a way to entice them to move to the territories, said Garcia Bedolla. Suffrage was withdrawn in a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment around the start of the 20th century. By 1928, the vote was limited to U.S. citizens in federal and state elections. Maryland's constitution, however, does not require U.S. citizenship for local elections, which is why communities like Takoma Park and the village of Barnesville (population 161) can legally allow noncitizens to vote. "We've just never had a citizenship requirement," said Barnesville Mayor Peter T. Menke. "I've heard the pundits on TV and the talk shows blasting all of us, and I get very infuriated. I have different feeling about a statewide or national election, but in a local election where you're directly involved and you're a taxpayer, it's different. I have no problem with anybody who's interested in the town and wants to cast a ballot." Residents in Takoma Park said they felt the same way. "This is were you live, this is where you spend your money," said Duwa Mutharika, a Zimbabwe native who had lived in Takoma Park for four months. Mutharika, like several noncitizens here, was not aware that she could vote. When told that she could, she responded enthusiastically, "When you are here, you have a responsibility to be part of the community." Demographics play a part in the low turnout rate for noncitizen voters in Takoma Park, said Garcia Bedolla. "Most of the immigrants are poorer and less educate," she said. "So even if you give them voting rights, you're not going to have hundreds of thousands of immigrants pouring into the polls." EVENTS: Coming up next week... • TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2004 • Central Region Elementary School #15 Phase II Site Selection Update Local District 4 Your participation is important! Please join at this meeting where we will review: * Criteria used to select potential sites * Sites suggested by community and by LAUSD, and * We will present and discuss the most suitable site(s) for this new school project 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Magnolia Elementary School Auditorium 1626 S. Orchard Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90006 • THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2004 • Miramonte Elementary School Addition Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Please join us to celebrate the completion of your new classroom building! Ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m. Miramonte Elementary School 1400 E. 68th Street Los Angeles, CA 90001 • Menlo Elementary School Playground Expansion Pre-Construction Meeting 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Menlo Avenue Elementary School 4156 Menlo Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90037 • Central Region Elementary School #13 Phase II Site Selection Update Local District 3 Your participation is important! Please join at this meeting where we will review: * Criteria used to select potential sites * Sites suggested by community and by LAUSD, and * We will present and discuss the most suitable site(s) for this new school project 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Pio Pico Span School Auditorium 1512 S. Arlington Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90019 • South Region High School #4 Phase II Presentation of Recommended Preferred Site Local District 8 At this meeting we will present and discuss the site that will be recommended to the LAUSD Board of education for this new school project. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dominguez Elementary School Multipurpose Room 21250 Santa Fe Avenue Carson, CA 90810 • Phase II Site Selection Update Local District 2 Your participation is important! Please join at this meeting where we will review: * Criteria used to select potential sites * Sites suggested by community and by LAUSD, and * We will present and discuss the most suitable site(s) for this new school project 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Arminta Elementary School Auditorium 11530 Strathern St. North Hollywood, CA 91605 *Dates and times subject to change ____________________________________________________ • SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: http://www.laschools.org/bond/ Phone: 212.241.4700 ____________________________________________________ • LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR: http://www.laschools.org/happenings/ Phone: 213.633.7616 • LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR 4LAKids Book Club for June & July –CHOOSING EXCELLENCE: “Good Enough” Schools Are Not Good Enough John Merrow - the documentary filmmaker and corespondent behind the Merrow Report series of education broadcasts on NPR and PBS - spoke to the California State PTA convention last month about his take on public education issues. Much of what he said was reported a month ago in 4LAKids (see: May 9th: “NOTES FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE PTA CONVENTION & PARENT SYMPOSIUM IN LONG BEACH”) Merrow’s thinking is further developed in CHOOSING EXCELLENCE (Scarecrow Press, 207pp) — first published in 2001 but is still very applicable today. Some of his thoughts re: charter schools (which at the time were totally unproved) probably need reworking as the data becomes clearer – but his take is 98% on! (‘Choice’ in LAUSD means particpation in the magnet school program - the ultimate choice is often made by a lottery – ‘choice’ becomes a matter of chance!) “Choice” has become a political buzzword in education, often it really means school vouchers and the privatization of public education. Not here. Merrow’s call is for nothing-less-than excellence in education, and his mantra that “‘Good Enough’ Schools Are Never Good Enough” resonates. His critique of multiple choice standardized tests, his description of the roles of parents, students and educators, and his premise that excellence is a choice parents must make – and his step-by-step guide on how to make the choices – are well worth the read. This is good stuff! —smf Get CHOOSING EXCELLENCE from your local library, bookstore - or order it by clicking here. What can YOU do? • E-mail, call or write your school board member. Or your city councilperson, mayor, assemblyperson, state senator, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think. • Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school. • Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it! • Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child. • Vote. Contact your school board member Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is Vice President for Education in Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and governance council member at two LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. • This and past Issues are available – with interactive feedback — at http://4lakids.blogspot.com/ • To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.

4LAKids: Sunday, July 18th, 2004

4LAKids: Sunday, July 18th, 2004 In This Issue: • PRESCHOOL: USE OF PROP 10 FUNDS FAULTED, A COMPROMISE ON PRESCHOOL PLAN & PRESCHOOL PLAN SHOULD RAISE MANY QUESTIONS • WILLIAMS v. CALIFORNIA—2 from the Times: Suit on Schools Near Resolution & 1 Teen's Action May Help Many • Daily News: ROMER TESTING THE TEST WATERS / LA Times: MORE SCHOOLS TURN TO SINGLE TRACK / LA Times: LAUSD PARKING PERK DRAWS FIRE FROM UNION • EVENTS: Coming up next week... • 4LAKids Book Club for June & July –CHOOSING EXCELLENCE: “Good Enough” Schools Are Not Good Enough • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • THE 4LAKids ARCHIVE - Past Issues and added features • MAKING SCHOOLS WORK: Get the Book @ Amazon.com • THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee’s “Paying for Schools” • FIVE CENTS MAKES SENSE FOR EDUCATION- Target 5¢ from every federal tax dollar for Education • from the California Charter Schools Capitol Update listserv: As newspapers have reported, the state budget is at a standstill. On Wednesday, the Governor took his plea to pass a budget to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies, asking them to put pressure on Democrats to approve his deal with the cities and counties. Thursday night, the Governor and the Speaker of the Assembly held dueling press conferences blaming each other for the budget stalemate. [STOP PRESS: Gov. Schwartzenegger’s descent from rhetoric to gender-questioning in calling his opponents “Girlie Men” on Saturday would lead to immediate suspension or expulsion from LAUSD were he a student above the fourth-grade under LAUSD’s zero-tolerance of sexual harassment!] Controller Steve Westly has indicated that the State could function until July 28th without a budget. This allows lawmakers additional time to push the envelope as close to the 28th as possible in an effort to get what they want. Local government funding is still an unresolved issue. One of the new twists to the local government plan is a new compromise presented by local government officials, which involves a plan for allowing the state to take money from local government twice in any ten year period upon a declaration of a fiscal emergency and a supermajority (three-fourths or four-fifths vote) of the Legislature. The amounts taken would be treated as a loan to be repaid, with interest, within three years. The outline of the latest proposal was released in the past few days, and is the subject of an intense statewide advocacy effort. • smf notes: I have a real concern here, born of experience in the mess that masquerades as school funding in California and forged in the crucible of trying to make mid-year downwardly-revised ‘here-are-the-real-numbers’ budgets work at schoolsites. Even though there is a voter mandated “Constitutional Guarantee” that schools in California will be funded at certain level it’s been very easy for the legislature and governor to undo the guarantee to spend the money on something else! Something like prison guards. It seems to me that the counties and municipalities are being asked to follow this same funding paradigm — a well documented and self perpetuating failure of monumental proportions. My personal caveat emptor to the mayors and councilpeople and supervisors — and to their stakeholders, the voters and taxpayers (‘That’s us, folks!’), is this: The deal you are striking is with those wonderful folks who brought you school funding! If you think this budget mess is a spectator sport being conducted for our amusement between the Actor and the Politicians up in Sacramento, think again! They want to pay for police officers and fire fighters the same way they pay for teachers, schoolbooks and classroom supplies. Get involved. Tell ‘em you’re not amused. Ask ‘em to keep their old promises before they make new ones. Please. Contact your state legislators. PRESCHOOL: USE OF PROP 10 FUNDS FAULTED, A COMPROMISE ON PRESCHOOL PLAN & PRESCHOOL PLAN SHOULD RAISE MANY QUESTIONS smf notes: Pew Charitable Trusts research shows (and just plain ‘duh!’ observation confirms) that attending a high-quality preschool can have a substantial impact on a future child’s success in school. Quality preschool programs: • Improve the likelihood of learning to read by the third grade. • Reduce the chances of being held back for a grade. • Reduce the chances of being placed in special education. • Increase the possibility of graduating from high school. Yet in this country, we have a fragmented system of early education that is highly uneven in access, quality and the financial burden imposed on families. California’s First Five Initiative, funded by tobacco taxes through Proposition 10 – has tried to make a difference in our state. But in the end the process has been held hostage by politics – and a political food fight over the funding and who will control it. It won’t be long before the taxpayers can add “What happened to the 50¢ a pack for cigarettes?’ to “What happened to the lottery money?” —smf • LA Times: USE OF PROP 10 FUNDS FAULTED: A state audit of five counties finds most money for child programs unspent. By Gabrielle Banks - Times Staff Writer July 16, 2004 - SACRAMENTO — State auditors criticized officials in five counties Thursday for failing to properly spend more than $909 million intended for early childhood development programs. Auditors found that the counties, including Los Angeles County, left unspent as much as 85% of the money they had received since 1998, when voters agreed to a statewide tax on tobacco products for the programs. The report said some county panels set up to distribute the Proposition 10 money kept incomplete records, did not establish clear rules for hiring contractors or failed to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs they did fund. "They promised that every single penny was going to be spent on children [ages] 0 to 5. To find out we're sitting on a pile of cash — that doesn't do anything for a child in Baldwin Park … or Compton," said Bakersfield-area Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who sought the audit because of concerns he had with how Kern County was using its funds. The ambitious 1998 ballot initiative championed by filmmaker and child advocate Rob Reiner proposed to funnel money from a 50-cents-per-pack tobacco tax into health, education and child-care programs for some of the neediest children in California. In Los Angeles County, the group handing out the money is called First 5. It has earmarked $600 million for universal preschool for all 4-year-olds and $100 million for universal healthcare up to age 5. But these programs are not yet up and running, according to Executive Director Evelyn Martinez. The auditors found that the newly established commissions generally lacked clear rules for governing themselves. For example, the Santa Clara group set a spending cap of $15,000 for unsolicited grants, but then awarded $1 million to the Children's Discovery Museum. Some commissions could not explain how they had chosen contractors. Florez condemned Kern County for its plan to spend $1,400 on bronze plaques recognizing the commissioners at 20 new tot lots. All five of the commissions abided by local bidding laws in handing out Proposition 10 money. They were not required to consider all bidders. Some made sure their bidding process was open to the public, but others kept the process closed. Martinez said that considering the size of the undertaking, she thought L.A. County's commission fared well in the audit. She said she expects the universal preschool program to be ready to begin after Labor Day. Reiner's aide Ben Austin agreed, saying, "Everybody is pointing to this as a groundbreaking program. We want to tighten it. "We're very confident that money that has been allocated has gone to children. If any public dollar is spent improperly, that's something we have to look at." Several commissions responded in the audit that they had already begun to spend money on effective programs for children. A grand jury investigation in Santa Barbara last year found that the county commission had misspent Proposition 10 money in its haste to set up childhood development programs. Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (D-Alameda), chairwoman of the legislative audit committee, said the county commissions will need more oversight, but she emphasized that the criticisms in the report were "relatively minor." • A COMPROMISE ON PRESCHOOL PLAN: After weeks of debate, L.A. County officials agree on the makeup of a new agency to oversee a $600-million program funded by tobacco tax. By Carla Rivera - LA Times Staff Writer July 13, 2004 – After weeks of intense political wrangling, Los Angeles County officials reached a compromise Monday on the composition of a new agency to control a $600-million tobacco tax-funded preschool program and gave the Board of Supervisors a greater role in its operations. The new entity, Los Angeles Universal Preschool Inc., will have a 13-member board of directors. The five members of the Board of Supervisors will each appoint a representative and are expected to submit candidates by Aug. 1, said Supervisor Don Knabe, who is also the chairman of the panel that controls tobacco taxes locally. That agency, First 5 Los Angeles, on Monday approved eight members for the preschool board, all chosen by an advisory committee that has been developing the program for more than 18 months. As it stands, the new board probably won't meet before September. Planners had hoped to begin enrolling students in September but say the last-minute infighting probably has pushed the launch date to 2005. The actions came after a weekend of lobbying by filmmaker and children's advocate Rob Reiner and others to placate county officials seeking greater control over the program and members of the planning team, who had feared too much county interference. The spat raised questions about who is answerable for the millions of dollars of public money raised through 1998's voter-approved Proposition 10, which levied a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for preschool and other early-childhood education and health programs. A contract approved Monday strengthened the power of the supervisors and First 5 Los Angeles to oversee the nearly $600 million expected to be generated for preschools over the next five years. "I'm really pleased," said Reiner, the statewide First 5 chairman who early during Monday's meeting jokingly suggested that no one would be allowed to leave without an agreement. "Ultimately, it came down to people of goodwill who at the end of the day cared more about children than whatever parochial issues." A key sticking point was the proposed size of the governing body, with the planning team initially submitting a 23-member list. Some county officials, including Knabe, urged a more compact body of nine members. The sides settled on 13, although some on the advisory team, including Nancy Daly Riordan, a children's advocate and the wife of the state education secretary, had insisted that number was too few for the massive effort to enroll 150,000 children in preschool and raise private and public funds to sustain the system. Riordan was among those named to the new board. The compromise also seeks to ensure that the board is ethnically and geographically diverse. Two slots will be given to early-childhood education experts and two to parent representatives. The agency will oversee a system being built from the ground up. It was scheduled, before the delays, to begin enrolling up to 5,000 children age 4 in the fall and up to 150,000 over the next decade. Home-based child care providers and existing preschools such as Head Start will be used to extend classes from half day to full day. Scores of new centers are to be built. Karen Hill-Scott, an education consultant who has led the planning, said the new agency probably will be independent once it is up and running. "It saddens me that it takes so much struggle to agree on issues of control and governance, but it's always that way," said Hill-Scott. "This in a way was sort of like a political campaign. I think initially it will be closely monitored, and that as the system demonstrates its accountability and ability to deliver on the master plan, everyone will relax." Besides Riordan, those named to the new board were Shizuko Akasaki, director of special projects for the Los Angeles Unified School District; Al Osborne, a UCLA business professor and faculty director of a Head Start training program; John Agoglia, former president of NBC Enterprises and president of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners (nominated as the interim executive director of the preschool agency); philanthropist Wallis Annenberg; Vilma Martinez, attorney and former president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Robert K. Ross, president and chief executive of the California Endowment; and Donald Tang, senior managing director of Bear Stearns & Co. • PRESCHOOL PLAN SHOULD RAISE MANY QUESTIONS Letters to the Times: July 18, 2004 — The article on the "Preschool Plan" ("A Compromise on Preschool Plan," July 13) tells us plenty about the bureaucratic setup for running this First 5 activity, but it generates plenty of questions. With all these people and all that money ($600 million), there's little information about what will the kids in the First 5 be doing. What do we expect them to learn? How will we know? Who will the teachers, directors, support staff, etc., be? And how will they be qualified? What materials will the kids and their staffs be using? And where will this take place? Will the kids walk to school, get on buses, be delivered by parents? With all that's at stake, where are the early childhood experts who should be on board from the start? I see plenty of "activists" and lots of chiefs, but precious few Indians. Nathan Kravetz Professor emeritus of education City University of New York Sherman Oaks STATE AUDITORS REPORT 2003-123: California Childrens and Families Commissions WILLIAMS v. CALIFORNIA—2 from the Times: Suit on Schools Near Resolution & 1 Teen's Action May Help Many • SUIT ON SCHOOLS NEAR RESOLUTION: ACLU had alleged inner-city children were shortchanged By Duke Helfand and Cara Mia DiMassa LA Times Staff Writers July 10, 2004 - Lawyers for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the American Civil Liberties Union are close to settling a major lawsuit accusing the state of denying poor children the well-trained teachers, up-to-date textbooks and clean classrooms needed for a decent education, according to people involved in the talks. Negotiators are expected to reach an agreement in the coming weeks to provide more money for textbooks and more state attention to urban campuses populated mostly by low-income and minority students, many still learning to speak English. The ACLU's 4-year-old suit alleged problems that "shock the conscience," including vermin-infested schools. But given the state's weak fiscal outlook, the proposed settlement is not expected to provide a massive infusion of money to correct such problems. Instead, the agreement would focus more on monitoring local districts' efforts to provide highly qualified teachers and use previously approved bond funds to build new campuses. "There are very serious talks going forward," said Mark Rosenbaum, the ACLU's Southern California legal director, who refused to discuss specifics about the intensive effort to settle the class-action lawsuit, known as Williams vs. California. Schwarzenegger is pressing hard for a settlement, an about-face from his predecessor, Gray Davis, whose administration vigorously fought the case and racked up more than $18 million in state legal bills. Several sources familiar with the talks said the proposed agreement would seek a one-time, $139-million fund this year for the state's lowest-performing schools to buy extra textbooks and instructional materials. The draft agreement also would require the state's most crowded schools to phase out by 2012 a controversial calendar that shaves 17 days of instruction off the year, sources said. It would bar crowded campuses from converting to such a calendar and would allow the state to appoint trustees to oversee districts' building programs if they don't make adequate progress by 2008 to ease overcrowding and lengthen the school year. Most of the schools on the shortened calendar are in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has 129 of them. The district already is in the midst of a massive school construction program intended to return all of its students to a traditional, 180-day school year by 2012. Negotiators, including representatives of the Los Angeles district, are still haggling over the authority of the trustees, one of the stickiest issues. And some education officials in Sacramento and in Los Angeles are worried that new layers of bureaucracy might be created without the state supplying enough money to correct many school deficiencies. The state, the ACLU and other civil rights groups involved in the settlement talks are rushing because they want to give lawmakers in Sacramento time before adjourning Sept. 1 to pass legislation implementing aspects of the settlement, including the extra textbook money. In an appearance at a Sacramento high school last week, Schwarzenegger said, "It is a shame that we as a state have neglected the inner-city schools. It's terrible. It should never have happened. Every child is guaranteed to get equal education, equal quality teachers, equal textbooks, homework material. All of this stuff ought to be equal, but it hasn't been." According to a transcript provided by his office Friday, Schwarzenegger also said it was "crazy" for the state to fight the lawsuit, adding: "We are very close in settling that …." Los Angeles school board President Jose Huizar said his panel is expected to discuss the possible settlement in a closed session next week. "I am glad that the pending settlement is near," said Huizar, who declined to offer details. "The case is long overdue for settlement. It's obvious that education is not where we want it to be in California or LAUSD, and the plaintiffs pointed out areas that need improvement." The lawsuit, filed in May 2000 in San Francisco Superior Court, named 99 students from 18 schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other California cities. The case, named after a San Francisco middle school student, Eliezer Williams, sought help for tens of thousands of students. According to the lawsuit, students in low-income schools "lack the bare essentials" such as adequately trained teachers, functioning toilets, proper heat and air conditioning, and modern textbooks. Many of the schools also were infested with "vermin, including rats, mice and cockroaches," contended the suit, which was also filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other public interest groups and law firms. The complaint said such conditions violated the California Constitution's requirement that all students be offered a free and equal public education. Sweetie Williams, 52, father of plaintiff Eliezer Williams, said he had received a letter from the ACLU in May saying the case was likely to be settled rather than go to court. He said he was not told of any details. Williams, the father of seven and pastor of the 80-member Samoan Pentecostal Church in San Francisco, said he and his son had agreed to be a part of the lawsuit because textbooks at Eliezer's Luther Burbank Middle School were lacking or tattered, the ceiling tiles in classrooms were falling down and the "academics were just lacking." He said being a part of the suit somewhat eased his frustrations. "We wanted to spearhead the issue and get as much attention as we could," Williams said. "My kids are my only assets. We can fix broken computers, but when a kid breaks, you are looking at prison. "We just wanted to be a part of making sure that every kid gets the proper eduction," Williams said. "Without it, they don't have much of a future." The principal of Luther Burbank MS (in San Francisco) could not be reached for comment. Other plaintiffs spoke of similar conditions at their campuses. Abraham Osuna recalled that the bathrooms at Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles were so disgusting that he trained himself not to use the facilities while at school. Osuna, now a 21-year-old film major at UCLA, also said his high school calculus book was 20 years old and that math texts often were marred by scribbles and destroyed by students who tore off page numbers. "After a while, you end up having optimism washed away from you," Osuna said. Jefferson Principal Norm Morrow said the school has taken steps to correct the textbook and bathroom problems. He said the staff now schedules regular bathroom inspections and cleanings, paying for extra custodial staff on weekends. And the school also makes sure every child has the appropriate textbooks — relying on extra funding from the school district. "I think we are in pretty good shape today," Morrow said. "It's just a matter of staying on top of it." Times staff writer Stephanie Chavez contributed to this report. • 1 TEEN’S ACTION MAY HELP MANY: His complaint led to a suit that may bring more funds to urban schools. By Stephanie Chavez LA Times Staff Writer July 11, 2004 - The final indignity for Sweetie Williams hit the afternoon his son Eliezer brought home tattered photocopied pages from an eighth-grade math book, not the math book. This came after another son wrote an essay about his San Francisco school titled "Too Many," for too many broken chairs, too many broken urinals, too many old books. So when the ACLU contacted Williams in 2000 and asked if he would allow Eliezer, then 12, to be the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the state over school inequities, the frustrated father said to sign up his son. The suit accused the state of denying poor children the well-trained teachers, up-to-date textbooks and clean schools needed for a decent education. After the administration of Gov. Gray Davis spent $18 million to fight the lawsuit, lawyers for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the American Civil Liberties Union are expected to reach an agreement within weeks, according to people involved in the talks. After joining the lawsuit four years ago, Williams sent Eliezer to school with a disposable camera to photograph broken rails, busted lockers and falling ceiling tiles. He and Eliezer attended news conferences and stayed late for interviews because "we wanted to get as much attention as we could." And then the Williams side of the widely watched Williams vs. California lawsuit continued on with his schooling — and waited for results. Although the settlement could involve more money for books and more state attention to urban schools that teach mostly low-income and minority students, the help would arrive too late for Eliezer, who will be entering his senior year in high school, the boy and his father said in interviews Saturday. "It's kind of disappointing," said Eliezer, who is 16. Sweetie Williams, a father of six and pastor of the First Samoan Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in San Francisco, and his family were in Norwalk to attend a religious meeting. "It kind of confused me over the years. I thought they had forgotten about me," the teenager said of the lawsuit. "I thought it would be settled sooner. But at least now I know it wasn't for nothing." Now Eliezer isn't so worried about the deficiencies alleged in the lawsuit: the roaches and other vermin in the classroom, the lack of a school librarian, the social studies textbook that did not reflect the breakup of the former Soviet Union. They were a part of his adolescent years at San Francisco Unified School District's Luther Burbank Middle School. As an incoming senior at Balboa High School, he worries about his grades. He's a C-plus student. He's struggling with U.S. history and physics because "there are just things [in those classes] I've never heard of before." And, at last, when he's found a passion for school because of a new communications course and aspires to be a cinematographer, the student known to many top education officials simply as the Williams case wonders if he will be able to get into a college. "I'm going to try my hardest to make it into college," he said. "But I'm worried about my grades." Would a math textbook to take home from middle school have made a difference? Sweetie Williams, 52, explained it this way: "As a pastor, I can preach and preach to my congregation. But I want everyone to have a copy of the Bible at home so they can read it, study it, and if they have any questions, they can reference the chapters. The same too has be available to the kids when it comes to textbooks. "These kids need to be provided with the right and proper tools," Williams said. Louise Renne, special counsel for the San Francisco Unified School District, said the last five years have brought a "sea change" of improvements to district schools, including Luther Burbank, which has been extensively remodeled. Also, a new maintenance and instructional materials program has been put in place to ensure that campuses are up to code and that there are enough textbooks to go around. Some of the improvements, she said, came not as the direct results of lawsuits or legislation, but because San Francisco voters passed a nearly $300-million school bond issue last year. Renne said that the district had disputed "a number of the allegations" in the suit and that one claim about the lack of books from a student whom she declined to name was overstated. The call Sweetie Williams said he once got from his son's high school further fueled his frustrations over the state of public education, and spoke to one of the lawsuit's contentions: that students from low-income schools lack adequately trained teachers. "I got a call from a teacher saying he was counseling my son because he had been late three times," Williams said. "I asked him if he was a counselor. He told me, no, he was a coach. I told him to send my son home, I'll do the counseling." The elder Williams, named Sweetie by his mother because "I was sweet," he said, is an airport screener supervisor at San Francisco International Airport and leaves the family apartment before 7:30 a.m. His wife, Talosaga, also works as an airport screener. They juggle jobs and their church responsibilities and expect their oldest children to help out with baby-sitting their younger siblings. The couple, who are from American Samoa, came to California in 1997, in part to offer their children a better education. "To my frustration, this has not been the case," Williams said. Yet Eliezer spoke with enthusiasm about his senior year at school, where he has found his niche in communication arts. The student who didn't have a math book in middle school to take home can now check out expensive video and computer equipment. He credits his teacher, George Lee, with jump-starting his enthusiasm. For Mother's Day, Eliezer produced a video presentation that included old family photos and a recorded message from his sister in Texas. "It blew my wife away," Sweetie Williams said. "And it's all because my son has a good teacher. That's what counts most." As the years wore on, few in his school even knew Eliezer was at the center of the Williams case. The notoriety of the case in national education circles never translated to special treatment in school for Eliezer. The father and son don't even think of themselves as activists — just one voice, albeit the lead name behind the 99 students and 18 schools named in the suit. And Williams said one advantage of his big family — children ages 29 to 3 — is that although the older boys had to take remedial courses at a community college to make up for lost time in middle and high school, there is the youngest, Kealani. "Maybe the settlement of this lawsuit will come in time to help her," he said. Daily News: ROMER TESTING THE TEST WATERS / LA Times: MORE SCHOOLS TURN TO SINGLE TRACK / LA Times: LAUSD PARKING PERK DRAWS FIRE FROM UNION Daily News: ROMER TESTING THE TEST WATERS • Science exam plan has some saying 'stop' By Jennifer Radcliffe - Staff Writer July 16, 2004 - A proposal that would require Los Angeles Unified School District students to take another batch of science tests is drawing heat from the teachers union and at least one school board member who say students are already inundated with standardized exams. Superintendent Roy Romer's $1.8 million plan, which will be considered by the school board next month, would require fourth- through eighth- graders to take three diagnostic science assessments each year. Romer implemented similar tests in English and math in 2001, and plans to add social studies exams in 2005-06, as a way to ensure that students are learning. "We can tell whether a student is really progressing ... and we can make corrections," Romer said. But board member Jon Lauritzen said students are already buried under an array of tests mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act that are designed to show progress in closing the achievement gap. "The kids are just going to totally burn out," said Lauritzen, a former teacher. "It's an endless string of tests." In addition to tests required by federal and state lawmakers, students must wrestle with the high school exit exam, while some of those bound for college also face the SAT, ACT or Advanced Placement tests. Some high school students spend nearly 50 percent of their spring semesters being tested, he said. "It's really a wonder that we do any teaching at all," Lauritzen said. "If you don't have any time to instruct between the various tests, you lose out." Lauritzen said he would like to see the number of district assessments reduced to two per subject per year, and that he would like teachers surveyed on the topic. But Romer said three to four diagnostic tests a year is a must. He said he sympathizes with Lauritzen's concern that students are tested too much. "I'm happy to get rid of some of the other kinds of tests," Romer said, adding that the other tests are mandated by the state. _____________________________________________________ STATE OR FEDERALLY MANDATED TESTS LAUSD STUDENTS ALREADY MUST TAKE: • California Achievement Tests/Reading: Grades 2-11. • California Achievement Test/Spelling: Grades 2-8. • California Achievement Test/Math: Grades 2-11. • California Achievement Test/Science: Grades 9-11. • California Standards Test/English: Grades 2-11. • California Standards Test/ History: Grades 8, 10 and 11. • California Standards Test/Science: Grades 5 and 9-11. • California Standards Test/Math: Grades 2-11. • California Writing Standards Test: Grades 4 and 7. • California State University Early Assessment Program: Grade 11. • California Physical Fitness Test: Grades 5, 7 and 9. • California High School Exit Examination: Grade 10. • Standards-Based Assessments: Grade 9. • National Assessment of Educational Progress: Grades 4, 8 and 12. __________________________________________________ Board member Julie Korenstein said that while she supports Romer's proposal, she agrees that students are overtested. "There's not enough time to teach for all the testing," she said. The assessments that Romer wants, however, are far more useful than some of the state-mandated exams that rate students and schools, she said. "It's a tremendous teaching tool," Korenstein said of Romer's assessments. "This is a much wiser way of testing children." Angelica Urquijo, a spokeswoman for United Teachers Los Angeles, said the union is skeptical of these additional tests, which adds stress to both teachers and students. "These are tests that are, in fact, overburdening kids," she said. "It's not the testing. It's the type of tests that are there sometimes to label kids as failures." But Todd Ullah, the LAUSD's science coordinator, said these low-stakes science tests -- designed to prepare students for the standardized exams -- will not take much time. And he noted that testing is a natural part of the academic process. "Of course I'm worried (about overtesting), but they are in school. Sometimes people don't see the forest through the trees." LA Times: MORE SCHOOLS TURN TO SINGLE TRACK • New construction and slowed enrollment growth make staggered schedules less crucial, but many districts will keep year-round system. By Joel Rubin - Times Staff Writer July 11, 2004 - Liberated by slowing enrollment growth and the construction of new campuses, California schools are beginning to turn away from a practice that helps ease crowding but is loathed by teachers, parents and students: overlapping "multitrack" schedules. But the move, which gained momentum this year, does not necessarily mean a return to the long days of summer fun for students. Among schools reverting to single tracks, many are keeping year-round schedules that some experts say improve learning. "The traditional calendar is no longer sacrosanct," said Tom Payne, who monitors year-round programs for the state. "People have realized that there are advantages to the year-round schedule." Used primarily in elementary and middle schools, multitrack schedules make the most of classroom space by running year-round, with students divided into three or four groups that operate on staggered schedules. Because some students and teachers are always on vacation, the convoluted schedule creates logistic nightmares: Administrators struggle to schedule staff training sessions, students become isolated from one another, and teachers find collaboration difficult or impossible. "The sense of school and community is challenged" with multitrack schedules, said Cheryl Cohen, assistant superintendent at the Orange Unified School District, which is eliminating multitrack at several schools. "It was a solution for certain circumstances, but clearly was not ideal." In a three-decade battle against persistent overcrowding, California has relied on the strategy far more heavily than any other state, education experts say. Multitrack schedules proliferated in the early 1970s, and then again throughout the 1990s, when enrollments surged. During the recent wave, the number of the multitrack schools in California soared as the enrollment crunch was compounded by a shortage of money for school construction. State lawmakers encouraged the trend by giving priority for construction funds to districts that agreed to open year-round schools. Dependence on multitrack programs peaked in 1998, when 1,027 schools used them. More than 1 million California students — about 16% of the state total — were affected. The tide turned after voters approved a series of bonds for school construction — most recently a $12.3-billion initiative in March — and enrollment growth slowed. What began as a slow decline in multitrack schedules accelerated dramatically last year, when 142 schools eliminated them. Only 39 schools — 11 from the same the district — added multitrack schedules. Some districts — especially Los Angeles Unified — continue to struggle with crowding and are unable to drop their multitrack programs. And education officials are quick to point out that future enrollment gains could force districts back onto the plan. But Payne, with the California Department of Education, said he expects the trend to continue at least over the next five years as enrollment in elementary and middle schools declines. Tiny Magnolia School District in the Anaheim area, for example, has eliminated multitrack calendars at three of its four year-round elementary schools for the coming year. Nearby Orange Unified will do the same at five of seven schools that use multitrack scheduling. Both districts hope to eliminate multitrack schedules at remaining schools as soon as possible. Carol McGown, a first-grade teacher at Magnolia's Mattie Lou Maxwell Elementary, said she is eager to start on a single schedule in a few weeks. "When you can collaborate with all the other teachers and everyone is on the same page, it is a big benefit for the children," she said. But the change does not mean that McGown's students, or those at Orange Unified, are free to frolic until September. Like many districts throughout the state, Magnolia and Orange Unified chose to keep their schools on a year-round schedule, but without the hassle of multiple tracks. Instead of the typical 10-week summer break, school will start Aug. 9 for the Magnolia schools and July 26 in Orange. Students will have three nearly monthlong vacations in summer, winter and spring. Year-round supporters said the evenly spaced vacations are better for students. "Kids do forget some of what they've learned over the summer," said Harris Cooper, director of the program in education at Duke University and leading researcher on year-round schooling. Research indicates that students lose about a month of learning during a 10-week summer holiday, Cooper said — twice as much as those on year-round schedules. Summer's detrimental effect is especially pronounced, educators said, at schools such as Maxwell, where more than two-thirds of the students are English-learners who often spend summer months speaking their native language. The monthlong winter break in year-round schedules also can accommodate the traditional exodus of Latino pupils to home countries over Christmas, while the short holiday break on traditional calendars leads to absences and the loss of attendance-based funding. The new schedule "is the best of both worlds," said Maxwell Principal Kristin Lasher. "Everyone is here at the same time … and we don't waste classroom time reteaching what students have already learned." Year-round calendars, proponents said, also allow more opportunities for teachers to help struggling students without having to wait several months for summer school. Year-round schools typically offer remedial classes and tutoring during vacations. Joanna Zug, president of the Magnolia PTA, said nearly all parents had embraced the decision to stick with a year-round schedule at the elementary schools. "I think year-round works best for everybody — teachers and students," Zug said. "There is an element of momentum and routine. The schedule gives everyone a nice rest, but then they're right back, and it is not such a huge deal to gear the kids back up to go to school." Not everyone agrees. Billee Bussard, who heads a national anti-year-round advocacy group, Summer Matters, said she is skeptical about research on the disadvantages of summer vacation. Summers, she said, give students the chance to pursue extracurricular interests. "The long break provides opportunities for learning that kids do not get in the classroom," she said. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of the schools that dropped multitrack schedules this year opted to return to a traditional calendar. Among districts that favor the traditional school year is Los Angeles Unified — which has by far the largest number of year-round students in California. LAUSD plans to return to a traditional calendar school by school as overcrowding eases enough to drop multitrack schedules. Ronnie Ephraim, chief instruction officer for the district, said the long summer break provides a needed opportunity for students to repeat failed classes. But more than anything, Ephraim said, echoing several other educators, the preference for the old-style schedule comes from ingrained rites of summer, such as camp, sports leagues and family vacations. "The whole community prepares itself for the kids in the summer. They will just accept [the traditional schedule] better," Ephraim said. "A lot of it is habit." Though education officials disagree over whether year-round schedules will ever become the norm, one thing is certain: Few will miss the days of the multitrack. "No one ever chooses a multitrack program for educational reasons," said Priscilla Wohlstetter, director of the education governance program at USC. "Districts do it out of necessity." • LA Times: LAUSD PARKING PERK DRAWS FIRE FROM UNION By Beth Barrett - Staff Writer July 12th, 2004 – Incensed by the Los Angeles Unified School District's plan to borrow nearly $40 million to build a downtown garage for top bureaucrats, teachers union officials on Monday called for an end to the free parking privileges so the $4 million a year could be used for education. District officials defended the proposal, saying the annual cost of paying off the certificates of participation for an approximately 1,700-space parking garage at its Beaudry Avenue headquarters and operating it, would be less than what it currently pays in leased parking spaces. But United Teachers Los Angeles President John Perez said the garage -- to be considered by the board tonight in closed session -- would still drain millions of dollars from the general fund to service the debt at a time when scores of teachers struggle to find street parking and the budget has no money for raises. "Thousands of teachers park on the streets and have to worry about their cars being vandalized," Perez said. "Teachers, particularly at elementary schools, sometimes have to park three or four blocks away. "Why build a $40 million parking structure for administrators who make two or three times more than teachers? This is another example of where the hierarchy takes care of itself." Perez also questioned why, after spending more than $184 million to buy and renovate the controversial building for its headquarters, the district now wants to spend an additional $40 million to build a parking structure on three nearby properties. "My understanding was the parking in the building would be sufficient for their needs, and that was supposedly why they bought the building," Perez said. "I never heard them talk about the parking being inadequate." Board member David Tokofsky called the proposal "unfinished business from the first Beaudry purchase." "It's also salt on a no pay-raise wound," Tokofsky said. District officials said owning the facility would result in cost savings over the existing parking leases -- beginning at about $174,000 a year, according to confidential documents -- as it seeks to consolidate employees in other leased properties, eventually expanding Beaudry from the current 2,800 employees to about 4,000 employees as floors now occupied by Bank of America become available. "It's a savings, that's the basic reason for doing it," said LAUSD spokeswoman Stephanie Brady. "Any way we can reduce savings is what we do." Brady said while paid parking isn't stipulated in union contracts, it has been the district's policy. "It's an equity issue," Brady said, noting that parking is free at schools and other facilities throughout the district. She said the district was providing adequate parking at new schools. Michael O'Sullivan, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, said parking around Beaudry is scattered at several facilities, creating a "nightmare." "Between the elevators and the parking, no one is happy with Beaudry. As far as any parking for administrators or anybody, the district provides free parking for teachers at the schools." District officials said there had always been an understanding that leased parking space would be used until that ceased to be a good business option. "This is not a surprise," said Bruce Kendall, the LAUSD's director of maintenance and operation. "We knew we had to park employees. They made a decision to lease part of the parking, and to later examine ... the decision." Though district officials declined to discuss specifics of the proposal, Brady said the district waited until there were "suitable" options to leasing. According to the board report, the properties under consideration are on Boylston, 3rd and 4th streets near the headquarters building. • smf notes: By law the new LAUSD HQ/333 Beaudry Building and the proposed parking structures are not – and cannot be — paid for from school construction bond funds! This may be good news to property taxpayers — but it’s bad news for students; these costs are paid for from the District’s operating budget - the money earmarked for the education of children. Two-and-a-half years ago folks from the LAUSD Real Estate Branch testified before the Bond Oversight Committee that the Beaudry Building had adequate parking to meet present needs into the foreseeable future. Because the old District HQ at 450 N. Grand — torn down to become a new high school (because LAUSD already owned the land the State did not provide any ‘matching funds’ for property acquisition) — was “parking challenged” I questioned specifically on the need to accommodate both staff and district visitors. I was assured there would be no problem! The Beaudry Building, with no level sidewalks on any side is a horror in terms of access by people with limited mobility. And nobody knew to question the building’s feasibility regarding elevators! We have all since learned the hard way that a building designed as a bank headquarters does not adapt well to use as a school district HQ — where people commute often between floors and offices! The amount of productivity lost by District Staff and visitors waiting for elevators (when they work) must add up to thousands of person-hours per month. Give the Beaudry Building a D minus, with U’s in Work Habits and Cooperation ...and add to that the ubiquitous: “Does not work well with others!” EVENTS: Coming up next week... • Tuesday Jul 20, 2004 • Ramona Opportunity High School CEQA Public Meeting Please join us at this meeting to give your comments and ask questions about the Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration for this school project. This report evaluates the potential impacts the school project may have on the surrounding environment. 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Ramona Opportunity High School Multipurpose Room 231 S. Alma Avenue Los Angeles, California 90063 • Phase II Presentation Recommended Preferred Site Local District 6 At this meeting we will present and discuss the site that will be recommended to the LAUSD Board of education for this new school project. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. South Gate Middle School Auditorium 4100 Firestone Boulevard South Gate, CA 90280 • Wednesday Jul 21, 2004 • South Region Span K-8 #1 Phase II Site Selection Update Local District 8 Your participation is important! Please join at this meeting where we will review: * Criteria used to select potential sites * Sites suggested by community and by LAUSD, and * We will present and discuss the most suitable site(s) for this new school project 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wilmington Middle School Auditorium 1700 Gulf Avenue Wilmington, CA 90744 ___________________________________________________ • LAUSD SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND CITIZENS’ OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Meets 10AM Wednesday July 21st in the Board Room @ LAUSD HQ 333 S. Beaudry Street. Los Angeles, 90010 Inconveniently located @ 3rd & Beaudry, West of the Harbor Fwy. Park at designated parking lots on Boyleston St., South and West of the Beaudry Building. Validations are available in the rear of the meeting room — which is thankfully located on the ground floor ...no elevator rides required! http://www.laschools.org/bond/ • Phone: 212.241.4700 ____________________________________________________ • LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR: http://www.laschools.org/happenings/ Phone: 213.633.7616 • LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR 4LAKids Book Club for June & July –CHOOSING EXCELLENCE: “Good Enough” Schools Are Not Good Enough John Merrow - the documentary filmmaker and corespondent behind the Merrow Report series of education broadcasts on NPR and PBS - spoke to the California State PTA convention last month about his take on public education issues. Much of what he said was reported a month ago in 4LAKids (see: May 9th: “NOTES FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE PTA CONVENTION & PARENT SYMPOSIUM IN LONG BEACH”) Merrow’s thinking is further developed in CHOOSING EXCELLENCE (Scarecrow Press, 207pp) — first published in 2001 but is still very applicable today. Some of his thoughts re: charter schools (which at the time were totally unproved) probably need reworking as the data becomes clearer – but his take is 98% on! (‘Choice’ in LAUSD means particpation in the magnet school program - the ultimate choice is often made by a lottery – ‘choice’ becomes a matter of chance!) “Choice” has become a political buzzword in education, often it really means school vouchers and the privatization of public education. Not here. Merrow’s call is for nothing-less-than excellence in education, and his mantra that “‘Good Enough’ Schools Are Never Good Enough” resonates. His critique of multiple choice standardized tests, his description of the roles of parents, students and educators, and his premise that excellence is a choice parents must make – and his step-by-step guide on how to make the choices – are well worth the read. This is good stuff! —smf Get CHOOSING EXCELLENCE from your local library, bookstore - or order it by clicking here. What can YOU do? • E-mail, call or write your school board member. Or your city councilperson, mayor, assemblyperson, state senator, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think. • Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school. • Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it! • Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child. • Vote. Contact your school board member Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is Vice President for Education in Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and governance council member at two LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. • This and past Issues are available – with interactive feedback — at http://4lakids.blogspot.com/ • To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.